Five-year-old Hampshire brain cancer patient Ashya King has responded well but has not fully recovered as he nears the end of his proton therapy treatment, the clinic treating him has said.

The youngster was taken to Prague, in the Czech Republic, in a desperate bid by his parents to get him the specialist treatment and the director of the Proton Therapy Center (PTC), Iva Tatounova, said he had benefited from it.

Mr Tatounova said: ''We always thought Ashya would benefit from the specialist treatment here at the PTC.

''And whilst he is still not fully recovered, he's responded very well to the proton beam therapy and there is no reason that he will not continue to get stronger once he leaves here.''

Ashya's parents Brett and Naghmeh King sparked an international police hunt when they removed their son from Southampton General Hospital on August 28 without medical consent.

They faced a protracted legal battle to get him to the PTC, with a High Court judge only approving the move after they had been released from police custody in Spain.

On completing treatment he will have had 30 irradiation sessions to fight his rare brain tumour.

The PTC has said proton therapy is more effective than radiotherapy as it limits the collateral damage of radiation to other vital organs, such as the heart and liver in Ashya's case. This would lead to less severe long-term side-effects including heart and breathing problems.

The therapy is not available for him on the NHS, although the health service has since agreed to fund Ashya's treatment.